Aussie Musicians Back Camp Cope In Fight Over Gender Representation On Festivals

'Their courage to always stand up for what they believe in is amazing'.

Australian musicians and industry identities are coming out in support of Melbourne band Camp Cope, who reignited the debate over gender representation on festival lineups after calling out Falls Festival live on stage this week.

As reported, Camp Cope -- whose three members are all women -- used their performance at the Byron Bay leg of the touring Falls Festival to criticise promoters for "booking only nine women" on the lineup. Frontwoman Georgia Maq altered two lines in new single 'The Opener', singing "It's another man saying we cant fill up a tent, it's another f*cking festival booking only nine women".

The video was uploaded to the band's Instagram page with the caption "it's another festival saying we can't play a main stage", while another video of the same performance was captioned with "maybe they'll never get it (putting women higher on a bill)".

Many, including Camp Cope's own publicist, drew attention to the size of the crowd that the drew to their mid-afternoon performance, supporting the idea that the band would have been worthy of a more prominent slot on a bigger stage.

This whole situation with Camp Cope is literal Groundhog Day. Remember when Amy Shark played GW McLennan at Splendour 2017 and half the bloody festival showed up at the tent!? Give! The girls! A go! pic.twitter.com/TKgzsDknWt

Falls Festival co-producer Jessica Ducrou said in a statement that gender balance was a "consideration" when booking lineups, but that it was "challenging". She said Falls had a "very conscious and strong agenda to book female talent" but claimed "it isn't always available to us at that headline level."

Music fans have criticised Falls' response, while musicians and respected industry figures have backed Camp Cope's stand. Former Triple J radio presenter Dom Alessio gave one of the strongest endorsements.

If Camp Cope are saying something, it's probably worth listening to. Their courage to always stand up for what they believe in is amazing and we're lucky to have them. Let's be more like them in 2018.

Other musicians including Kira Puru, Urthboy and Holly Throsby also got onboard.

Camp Cope are fkn sick but calling out misogyny in this day and age should not be controversial in any way. Why are more outraged at call outs than we are about little to no diversity or representation in our nations most prominent festivals?

THE PERSON WEARING THIS SHIRT TAKES A STAND AGAINST SEXUAL ASSAULT AND DEMANDS A CHANGE. There have been numerous reports of sexual assault on ground at falls this year. Be brave. Stand with us. Call it what it is. We have some free gifts for falls artists & attendees. pic.twitter.com/n04wNwTXHr